Tuesday, January 18, 2011

John's Italian restaurant on East 12th Street has been around since 1908. With the loss of the Beatrice Inn and now Fedora, it's one of the last of a few places where you can go in the East or West Village for an authentic "red sauce" meal in a place that hasn't changed.

As a surviving classic, it makes sense they'd try something new to stay in the game.

On a recent trip, with a craving for meatballs, I discovered their new "Vegan Italian Specialties" menu. It includes such dishes as Seitan Scallopini and Seitan Parmigiana, whole wheat and gluten-free pasta, as well as gluten-free cannoli, and vegan ice cream from Lula's Sweet Apothecary.

John's notes on the vegan menu: "We want everyone to be able to enjoy our Italian specialties made with the freshest ingredients available! All of our vegan dishes are plant-based and contain no animal ingredients whatsoever. We use dedicated cooking utensils for preparing vegan dishes."

I'm not vegan, so I can't review the food. And while I may look askance at gluten-free cannoli (that's not how Grandma made them), I applaud John's for making a change that may help it to survive without ruining the spirit and atmosphere of the place. Vegans, spread the word.

Keeping up with the changing world of food, in addition to their vegan menu, John's is also on Facebook and Twitter.

The owners of John's are my landlords. They said they have been working on this menu for an entire year before debuting it to make everything perfect. They are very excited about it. And to think, when I moved in upstairs, I was reluctant to tell these guys I was vegan!

Wow--these dishes sound good. I cook a seitan burger-cooked in a miso based sauce for a while--then topped with soy cheese and put on a whole wheat bun. John's is a great place and I am glad they are doing well.

Oh, I forgot to mention the food! How silly. The seitan parmigiana was amazing, and tremendous with a side of pasta. I had half for lunch the following day. They make their seitan themselves and are very proud of that. The caesar salad was OK, my favorite is at Kate's Joint though! Next time will try the scalloppini. Their chef of 37 years was trained by a vegan holistic chef to make all of this fantastic stuff, impressive to me. I had no room for dessert, sadly!

I've been eating there since the 60's. One of my favorite restaurants in NY! It would kill me to see that place close. I hope they can weather the storm of gentrification that is sweeping that neighborhood. Small places like this, and Il-Faro, which used to be on 14th between 1st & 2nd (closed years ago) can always be counted on to serve incredible food visit after visit.

youre saying i cant get a piece of grilled fish? w/some brocolli? whats not healthy about that? seitan is cheaper than fish. also it has MSG & many chemicals that would cause me to have a migraine. unless they make the seitan themselves? douteful! as johns switched from real potatoes to fake potatoes in a tube, like 6 yrs ago! i spit them out. i complained to the owners, myron & the other one. then they stopped buying salmon, believe me me it started to change. i dont mind some vegetarian dishes (thats good), but no fish or chicken? when i need strong food i don't want a dish of pasta w/wheat gluten ("seitan"). this was a real italian resturant. i ate there every time i went back to new york sometimes after a 12 hr plane trip. i would go across the street, have a good fish & talk to the bar tender, & waiters. they knew me they were great. now they sold out! bet they will have incense & new age crap right? another concept in my face? whats wrong w/traditional food?ill pass on johns.

thanks J& brooks! finally, something is reasonable & moderate. (the post was unclear). yes they may attract more customers. not everyone wants angelicas. & groups of people can all be happy. let me know if they makes their own seitan. after "ginos" closing i got scared!! thats for clarity.

So now they've broadened their appeal while keeping all of us who love & frequent them. There are few of the oldy goldies around (Italian). I believe Marinella's on Carmine St is one of those - with great Italian food. I use to see the artist Jack Levine there all the time. Trattoria Pesce Pasta has only been around maybe 10 years (also on Bleecker) but also good.

Aren't humans amazing? They kill wildlife - birds, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice and foxes by the million in order to protect their domestic animals and their feed.

Then they kill domestic animals by the billion and eat them. This in turn kills people by the million, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative - and fatal - health conditions like heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and cancer.

So then humans spend billions of dollars torturing and killing millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases.

Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals.

Meanwhile, few people recognize the absurdity of humans, who kill so easily and violently, and then call for Peace on Earth.

~Revised Preface to Old MacDonald's Factory Farm by C. David Coates~

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Anyone can break this cycle of violence! Everyone has the power to choose compassion! Please visit these websites to align your core values with life affirming choices: http://veganvideo.org & http://tryveg.com

"Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But, conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right." ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Good to know! Just made plans for birthday dinner there with vegan friend. It can be tricky to find a restaurant that's not completely vegan, yet has features carefully prepared and appetizing menu choices for vegans

Not to worry. I work there and this place is definitely not closing. In fact...going strong! The restaurant owns the building. Something that not every place can say. That is the main ingredient to surviving in manhattan. No landlord!

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